“It’s a sad thing that happens. Of course it’s very very sad. In the meantime, I express I doubt how much effect (there is) from such drastic actions,” the Dalai Lama told reporters during a visit to Australia.

[...] The Dalai Lama said the immolations were a sensitive political issue, but said Tibetans were not sacrificing their lives because of simple social or family grievances.

“I express this as a symptom of some causes of Chinese officials. They must investigate what is the cause of this symptom, of these events. It’s not the solution just to blame someone, including the Dalai Lama,” he said. [Source]

The Dalai Lama called the self-immolations “understandable” but denied recent claims by Chinese state media that he encourages the protests. His comments come in the wake of yet another incident, the 119th to take place in the Tibetan region since 2009, as Voice of America reports that a Tibetan nun set herself on fire near a monastery in Sichuan Province on Tuesday afternoon. The woman remained alive and in a hospital on Wednesday, according to Edward Wong of The New York Times.

Meanwhile, Radio Free Asia reports that a court in Qinghai province has jailed a Tibetan student leader for allegedly organizing a demonstration late last year:

Wangchuk Dorje, a student at the Middle School of Nationalities in Malho (in Chinese, Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was handed a four-year term for being one of the “main organizers” of the student protest, a local source told RFA’s Tibetan Service on Wednesday.

“He was detained after several thousand students launched a peaceful rally,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Details concerning Dorje’s age, the identity of the sentencing court, and the date of his sentencing were not immediately available.

Several thousand students took to the streets in Malho’s restive Rebgong (Tongren) county on Nov. 9, 2012, to demand greater rights, including the right to use Tibetan as their language of instruction in the schools. [Source]

See also CDT’s coverage of the Voice of America documentary titled Fire in the Land of Snow, which explores the causes of Tibetan self-immolations.

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Voice of America’s piece follows the recent release of CCTV’s own documentary, which bluntly blamed the “Dalai clique” and other influences outside of China for manipulating Tibetans into self-immolation. CCTV English has an archived collection of documentary reports on Tibetan history, and the state broadcaster’s English-language political talkshow “Dialogue” has run Tibet-focused episodes since the 2008 Tibet protests.

Beijing’s ongoing crackdown has, for the most part, kept Tibetan regions far out of reach for foreign journalists since 2008. In an interview with Voice of America’s director of Tibetan service and producer of Fire in the Land of Snow, the LA Times asked where the powerful footage that makes the film came from:

Q: With journalists largely prevented from visiting Tibet, how do you go about getting visual images from the region?

Gyatso: With great difficulty. What photos and pictures and video that exist today of self-immolation or the security buildups in Tibet, the images used in the film, came from individuals who took great risks to get them. They are from cellphones, primarily. Some of the footage in the film, of the security in a village outside Lhasa showing people being beaten, that actually came from Chinese security footage that leaked out. [Source]

From elsewhere in the English-language media, Radio Free Asia reports on the court-ruled jailing of two Tibetan monks who organized prayer services for a deceased protester:

Tsondru, 27, and Gendun Tsultrim, 30, were sentenced on April 18 to three years each for their role in leading funeral services for Wangchen Norbu, who burned himself to death on Nov. 19 in Yadzi (in Chinese, Xunhua) county, a monk living in South India told RFA’s Tibetan Service on Tuesday.

“They had no legal representation, and their family members and other relatives were not present,” Yarphel said, citing sources in the region.

News of their jailing was delayed apparently due to a clampdown on information on self-immolations. [Source]

In a special report, Reuters follows up on Kalkyi, the now-deceased mother of four who became the 111th Tibetan self-immolator in March:

On the chilly afternoon of March 24, Kalkyi – who like some Tibetans went by just one name – stood outside the monastery gates with about 200 to 300 other worshippers. She doused herself with gasoline and lit a match. Flames instantly engulfed her, and as they did, she shouted words that no one could make out.

Witnesses say it took less than 15 minutes for the blaze to kill Kalkyi. She was 30 years old.

It was the ninth time in just over a year that a Tibetan mother had set herself on fire, an especially startling statistic to emerge from a grisly campaign of suicidal political defiance that shows no sign of ending. [Source]

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A documentary by State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) has revealed how the Dalai Lama clique manipulated self-immolations in China’s Tibetan-inhabited areas.

The documentary, which was aired on Thursday evening, was created through in-depth research and interviews conducted by CCTV reporters in areas where the incidents took place.

In March, Banmajia, a 26-year-old villager, attempted to carry out a self-immolation in Seda county, Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, but was stopped by police.

Local police found a suicide note written by him together with dozens of photocopies of the note. Banmajia said he wrote the suicide note in accordance with the so-called Self-immolation Guide, which circulated on the Internet.

[...]CCTV said there is no doubt that the guide is irrefutable evidence of the Dalai clique’s manipulation of self-immolations.

[Source]

Back in February, CCTV aired a report blaming U.S.-government funded Voice of America for “fomenting” Tibetan self-immolations with their broadcasts. By citing Tibetan blogger Woeser and looking to the CCTV special report, The South China Morning Post shows how CCTV’s media campaign is an effort to gain leverage in global perception of the Tibet situation:

The half-hour news feature is part of recent efforts by Chinese state media to change the narrative of Chinese control over Tibet. It is the fifth such video aired over the last year, writes Beijing-based Tibetan activist Tsering Woeser in a tweet.

[...]The report also accuses foreign media of perpetuating the symbolic suicides. “By continuing to speculate about immolations, Radio Free Asia and other foreign media participate in their propagation in Tibetan areas,” it claims.

To back up its claims, it – somewhat bizarrely – quotes a German language lecturer at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

“It’s a problem of the Western media and it’s a problem of the interests of the exiled Tibetans who … it’s a fact, the more trouble there is in Tibet, the more money they get,” says Otto Kölbl.

[Source]

More on the contents of this newest CCTV report and its aspirations to reach a global audience from the BBC:

The documentary, which will also be released in English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian, is aimed at letting “the international community recognise the truth about self-immolation incidents”, CCTV says.

A transcript of the documentary outlines how “Dalai clique” members of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India allegedly posted “self-immolation instructions” on the internet to incite Tibetans in China to set themselves alight.

[...]“There is no doubt that this ‘self-immolation guidebook’ is irrefutable evidence on the Dalai clique planning and inciting Tibetan self-immolations,” the documentary asserts.

[Source]

The Dalai Lama himself has made efforts not to comment either for or against the practice of self-immolation, which has been used in Beijing’s campaign to emphasize the spiritual leader’s responsibility. A post from the Council on Foreign Relations “Asia Unbound” blog looks at the politics behind the Dalai Lama’s decision:

If the self-immolations have failed to galvanize international support, why hasn’t Dalai Lama used his moral authority to issue a public statement asking for Tibetans to stop the practice? It is widely believed that self-immolation cases would drop significantly if he makes such a move.  But Dalai Lama is facing a major dilemma over this issue. As a voice of peace and reason, he privately does not support self-immolation. Indeed, from the outset, he was said to be skeptical of how effective this approach would be.  But he has refrained from calling for an end of self-immolation. While he is still the unrivaled spiritual leader among Tibetans, his Middle Way Approach to resolve the Tibetan issue—which does not accept the status quo or political independence—through nonviolent means is increasingly challenged by the young generation, as represented by the Tibetan Youth Congress, the largest NGO in the exile community.  They are increasingly frustrated and many have been radicalized by the lack of breakthrough in the negotiation between Dalai Lama’s representative and the Chinese central government that began in 2002.  Against this backdrop, self-immolation has been viewed by some as an extreme form of collective frustration and anger among the Tibetans.  Unless Dalai Lama is able to offer a viable alternative, his call for ending the practice would likely alienate his supporters, even draw backlash from the radical wing of his own constituency.  It’s because of this that he has expressed respect for the courage and motives of the self-immolators, despite his general disapproval of their behavior.[...]

[Source]

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Has the fact that you are no longer pushing for full separation resulted in any dissatisfaction among Tibetan exiles?

There are some Tibetans who believe independence is our birthright, and historically speaking, they are right. How we deal with that is that we are a democratic society, and we are all entitled to our own views — we try to maintain it as difference of views, but not divisions.

Do you think there will be a solution to the Tibet issue within the lifetime of the current Dalai Lama?

Yes. Otherwise why would I leave my job at Harvard and go to Dharamsala? You have to always walk with hope that tomorrow will be different and better. If that hope disappears, then I think it’s a very lonely place. You have to believe that he will be able to return to Tibet during his lifetime.

[...]It sounds like you were subject to Chinese phishing attempts via email attachments? Does that happen often?

Yes, all the time. They try to monitor me, destroy my computer, make my life difficult.

It’s where the Buddhist philosophy comes in — don’t have attachments!

[Source]

Earlier this month, the Council on Foreign Relations posted video footage of a lengthy conversation between Sangay and NYU law professor and expert on Chinese law Jerome A. Cohen:

Click here to view the embedded video.

In their conversation (0:27:00), Sangay spoke about the constitutional legality of autonomy in the PRC, looking for comparison to the Hong Kong Basic Law that guarantees the “one country, two systems” principle. From the interview transcript:

[...]SANGAY: Because interests of Tibetans inside Tibet is our primary concern. So how to empower them, how to put them in leadership positions so they can administer their own interests, you know, as per the Chinese constitution.

That is — that is what we seek. Now, you raised a very important question, whether Hong Kong be a solution. As per Article 31, a specially administrated region is allowed in the Chinese constitution based on that — basic law was drafted, and one country, two system was allowed. And that is allowed for Macau.

Hence, what I say is that Tibet is not a constitutional challenge for China, because there is already a constitutional provision — Article 31, or even if they want, they can look at Article IV, the minority nationality act or Article XII of the Chinese constitution and be there as a basis of solution.

[Source]

In a recent letter to U.S. Congress appealing for increased pressure on China, Sangay again cited Article 31 of the PRC Constitution and China’s unwillingness to negotiate the Tibet issue as they have other politically sensitive regions:

With foresight and conviction, Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have legislated over the years to help Tibet. This has given political, moral and financial support to the His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s vision of a peaceful solution to the Tibet problem though the “Middle Way” approach that would provide for genuine autonomy for Tibet within the framework of Chinese constitution. Tibet is not a constitutional or an institutional problem for the government of the People’s Republic of China. As per Article 31 of the PRC Constitution, China has created a separate institutional mechanism of one country, two systems for Hong Kong and Macau. The Chinese leadership has also displayed the political will by forming a cabinet level committee to deal with Taiwan. However, when it comes to Tibet, the Chinese leadership has neither employed the available constitutional mechanism at its disposal, nor has it shown the political will to resolve the issue peacefully.

[Source]

Opposition to the Article 31 policy goal does exist among Tibetans due to concerns over the temporary nature of Hong Kong’s status under the Basic Law.

In a recent interview with C-SPAN, Sangay talked about the structure of the Central Tibetan Administration, his own position within, engagement with the international community, and tensions with China (among other topics):

* This post was edited on May 17 to include the opposition to the Article 31 policy goal.

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SPIEGEL: How have you been lately?

Ai: In general I am fine; my situation is as good as anybody else’s. It is still difficult but that’s because I want to put up a fight. I could have a more comfortable life if I gave up on this, and so could my relatives, my friends and state security.

SPIEGEL: Why don’t you want this?

Ai: Because I can’t feel comfortable if I have to give up my — and other people’s –rights for that. If I have to ignore injustice that I simply cannot ignore. My world is so connected to the world of others, how can I pretend I don’t know about those things? […]

SPIEGEL: Outside of China you are not only known for your art and your tweets, but also because you frequently speak to foreign journalists. How would you describe your relationship with the Western media?

Ai: Journalists are professionals. They look at the truth the way doctors look at it — not like a patient. As an artist I try to maintain the truth on a level where it can be more easily shared and accepted. Art has to be innocent. Journalists have to make judgements. That’s why they covered the tragic Boston attacks widely, but didn’t cover the 122 Tibetans who have immolated themselves over the past months. And that’s why many of you write about my struggle but not about the struggle of others.

SPIEGEL: Do you think you are getting too much media attention?

Ai: It certainly raises my responsibility. […] [Source]

Ai and Zand also discuss Ai’s participation in the Venice Bienniale in June, his personal circumstances in China, and why “if I was a Western politician, I probably would like dictators, too.” The artist has recently branched out into bad hairdressing and, like the Ministry of Public Security, is also taking aim at China’s repeated milk safety scandals. Meanwhile, his Sunflower Seeds have returned to London in an unofficial exhibition of seeds stolen from previous showings.

At Tea Leaf Nation, Shi Yunhan reports Mo Yan’s professed hope that the Nobel spotlight will soon fade, allowing him to return to writing in relative obscurity. Shi quotes from Mo’s recent speech at the 2nd Sino-Australian Literary Forum in Beijing:

Whether or not I deserved the Nobel Prize, I already received it, and now it’s time to get back to my writing desk and produce a good work. I hear that the 2013 list of Nobel Prize nominees has been finalized. I hope that once the new laureate is announced, no one will pay attention to me anymore.

[…] The prize money does not come out of taxpayers’ pockets, so I don’t have such responsibilities. I hate partisan politics and how people gang up on opponents based on ideology. I like to come and go on my own, which allows me to look on from the sidelines with a clear mind and gain insight about the world and the human condition. I don’t have the capability or interest of becoming a politician. I just want to write, quietly, and do some charity work in secret.

[…] It is not surprising to hear Mo Yan point out that a Nobel laureate has no technical obligations for increased social activism. Even before he won the Nobel Prize, Mo Yan spoke negatively on the public duties that can come with literary awards. It is also in line with his pen name, which means “don’t speak” in Chinese. The phrase refers to an ancient saying calling ordinary people to refrain from speaking out in public, especially on state affairs. However, now that he is China’s first officially acknowledged Nobel laureate, his sincere desire for a low-profile openly runs against his adoption by the Chinese government as a national symbol and source of pride. [Source]

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The exile seat of the Kirti Monastery in Dharamshala identified the two monks as Lobsang Dawa, 20 and Kunchok Woeser, 22.

“The two monks set themselves on fire at 6:40 pm (local time) near the right side of the main prayer hall of the Taktsang Lhamo Monastery protesting China’s repressive policies,” the Kirti Monastery release said. “Both of them passed away at the site of the protest.”

According to reports, the body of the two monks were later taken to their respective monastic quarters where fellow monks carried out prayers.

“Local Chinese authorities have issued orders for the cremation of the two monks by early tomorrow morning,” the release said.

A woman was also reported to have set herself on fire in another part of Sichuan, though few details are available. From Radio Free Asia:

Also on Wednesday, at about 2:00 p.m., a 23–year-old Tibetan woman set herself on fire and died in a protest against Chinese rule in Sichuan’s Dzamthang (Rangtang) county, Tibetan sources said.

The woman’s name and other details of her protest are still unknown.

Well-known Tibetan poet and blogger Woeser confirmed the woman’s protest, describing her in a blog entry as a “shepherdess.”

Last week, a 20-year-old mother self-immolated in Sichuan. Since 2009, more than 100 Tibetans have set themselves on fire to protest Beijing’s policies in the region.

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“For a ruling party which follows Marxism, we need to help people establish a correct world view and to scientifically deal with birth, ageing, sickness and death, as well as fortune and misfortune, via popularising scientific knowledge,” [Wang] said, in rare public comments on the government’s religious policy.

“But we must realise that this is a long process and we need to be patient and work hard to achieve it,” Wang added in the latest issue of the Study Times, which reached subscribers on Sunday.

“Religion has been around for a very long time, and if we rush to try to push for results and want to immediately ‘liberate’ people from the influence of religion, then it will have the opposite effect and push people in the opposite direction.”

[...]“Religion basically upholds peace, reconciliation and harmony … and can play its role in society,” Wang said.

“But due to various complex factors, religion can become a lure for unrest and antagonism. Looking at the state of religion in the world today, we must be very clear on this point.”

Wang’s statement did not specifically address CCP concerns regarding the regions of Xinjiang – predominately muslim; and Tibet – predominately Buddhist, where the suppression of distinct religious and cultural identities has long stimulated political unrest. For an overview of the play between religion, politics, and the state in western China, see the report “Uighurs and China’s Xinjiang Region,” or the podcast “China, Tibet, and Religious Oppression,” both via the Council on Foreign Relations.

Looking at the ongoing wave of protest by self-immolation on the Tibetan Plateau, Elliot Abrams and Azizah Al-Hibri of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom suggest that greater religious freedom, rather than the gradual disappearance of religious ideas as expressed by Wang Zuoan, would more effectively quell unrest and enhance security. From the Wall Street Journal:

Silence is inexcusable. We must consistently and persistently call for Beijing to uphold religious freedom for the sake of human rights and stability alike. President Xi must hear repeatedly from U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders that China’s policies ignore mounting evidence that freedom, not repression, creates peaceful and prosperous societies. Such societies are secured by honoring the dignity and worth of people, empowering and encouraging their participation in civil society, protecting their liberties in law and practice, and allowing them the fundamental right to practice their faith and live their lives according to their conscience.

In a country as vast, diverse and globally engaged as China, lasting stability is impossible when people are denied religious freedom. If Beijing guarantees freedoms for all, from Tibetan Buddhists to Uighur Muslims, and from Christians to the Falun Gong, it will help, not hinder, China’s quest for security.

As constitutionally defined since the founding of the PRC, official policy guarantees religious freedom, but human rights groups have long documented the state’s exercise of strict control over religion.

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Jugtso set herself alight outside a monastery in Ngaba, eastern Tibet (1) around 3pm local time today, 16 April. Local witnesses confirmed that she died at the scene. Her body was taken into the monastery where religious ceremonies were conducted. Local authorities have ordered her family to cremate the body tonight, in contravention of Tibetan tradition. Hundreds of members of the local community have gathered near the family home in preparation for the cremation.

Jugtso was married with a three-year-old child.

Radio Free Asia has more on the local reaction to her death:

Chugtso died at the scene and was brought to the nearby Jonang monastery, where monks performed prayers. Afterward, her remains were taken to her home, Gyatso said.

“Following this, local government officials and security forces pressured the family to cremate her remains during the night,” Gyatso said, adding, “This has been the usual practice of the government in handling self-immolation incidents.”

The incident brought “thousands” of area residents out in support, Gyatso said.

“Thousands of local Tibetans and monks are gathering at the monastery and her home to show solidarity with the deceased and her family,” he said.

It is notoriously difficult to get accurate details about self-immolation protests as local authorities limit communications in some areas where the protests occur and punish those who spread the information. Tibetan Review reports that four people have been sentenced for “separatism” for transmitting information about self-immolations overseas. Read more about self-immolation protests in Tibetan areas.

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Forty-five-year-old Thupten Nyendak of Dragkar Monastery in Lhagang in Kham, Eastern Tibet, and Atse, 23, from Serta Tibetan Buddhist Institute set themselves on fire at the former’s residence in Dzogchen Monastery on 6 April 2012. This reportedly happened after they offered butter lamps and prayers for all the Tibetan.

“As a Tibetan and Buddhist, we offer prayer for 113 Tibetans who self-immolated in Tibet, out of which we have been saying 83 [took place] in 2012. But now it is [confirmed] 85 in 2012 and 95 have died,” said Dr Lobsang Sangay, the prime minister of exile Tibet.

Today, Phayul.com reports on another recent case, bringing the toll of self-immolations in Tibetan areas of China to 114. Along with two earlier reported cases, this is the third reported case of self-immolation in protest of Chinese rule this week.

A monk from Mogri Monastery in Luchu in Eastern Tibet has set himself on fire in an apparent protest against China’s continuing occupation of Tibet.

“Kunchok Tenzin set himself ablaze at a road intersection near his monastery at 7pm (local time) on Tuesday, March 26,” said Kanyag Tsering of Dharamsala-based Kirti Monastery, who closely monitors self-immolations inside Tibet.

Twenty-eight-year-old Tenzin died in his fiery protest.

[...]China’s media blackout and severe security clampdown in Tibet are some of the reasons why the news of Kunchok Tenzin’s self-immolation took two days to get out.

The ongoing wave of fiery protest has prompted a controversial crackdown - authorities have been detaining those accused of “inciting innocent people to commit self-immolation,” and enhancing surveillance in Tibetan areas under Chinese rule. Radio Free Asia reports on an official document identifying prohibited behavior that has been circulating the Tibetan Autonomous Region and Qinghai  province:

Prohibitions listed in the document are aimed at “strengthening the protection of social stability and maintaining discipline by cracking down on unlawful activities in the relevant areas,” the document, written in Tibetan, says.

Activities now forbidden include fundraising “in the name of social welfare,” urging protection of the environment or the Tibetan language, and conducting prayer rituals or other religious ceremonies if these carry “overtones” of support for Tibetan independence.

Other unlawful activities listed as unlawful include “intimidating” government officials, inciting self-immolation protests, obstructing the “rescue” of self-immolators by Chinese security forces, and sending images or information about self-immolations to “outside separatist forces.”

The list particularly bars Tibetans from “taking pictures and filming the actual scene of self-immolation and mass gatherings” and “providing secret information to separatist forces,” apparently referring to Tibetan exile groups.

Also see prior CDT coverage of self-immolation and Tibetan protest.

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Thirty-year-old Kal Kyi, a mother of four has set herself ablaze protesting near Jonang monastery in Zamthang in Eastern Tibet at 3:30 pm (local time).

“The local Tibetans carried her charred body inside the monastery premises to prevent it from falling into the hands of Chinese security personnel,’ said Tsangyang Gyatso, an exile Tibetan who has close contacts in the region.

Kal Kyi had died from injuries. Kyi is survived by her husband, Gyepo, and their four children.

Within 24 hours of Kal Kyi’s self-immolation in Zamthang, another Tibetan has set himself on fire today in an apparent protest against China’s continuing occupation of Tibet.

Forty-three-year old Lhamo Kyab set himself ablaze at Lushoe village in Tsoe region, Eastern Tibet. The self-immolation took place around 10 am (local time).

This is the fifth self-immolation protests in Tsoe since Sangay Gyatso set himself on fire on October 6 last year.

[…] Further detail about Kyab current status is not available at the time of filing this report.

The number of incidents within the P.R.C. now stands at 111, excluding two which may have been accidental. Chinese authorities claim that one recent case was actually a murder, whose alleged perpetrator tried to use self-immolation as a cover. Six more self-immolations have been carried out by Tibetans in India and Nepal.

At Human Rights Watch, Sophie Richardson argues that Beijing’s response—a policy of “surveillance and suppression” documented in a recent HRW report—has proven “self-defeating”:

The Chinese government- – unlike many Chinese scholars – seems fundamentally unwilling or unable to acknowledge at any level that its policies toward ethnic minority regions have failed. Massive subsidies and infrastructure development, imposed without the key step of ensuring people’s support, have unsurprisingly not bought allegiance. Unprecedented relocations, particularly nomads, under the guises of environmental protection and providing better access to public services, have arguably deepened resentment in the region.

Beijing’s devotion to demonising the Dalai Lama accomplishes little other than further alienating Tibetans. Unilaterally imposing on Tibetans a model of life that Beijing wants – of an urbanised, monetised, secular, ‘modern’ society – is proving a losing strategy. Beijing’s imposition of the “grid” shows it intends to double-down rather than change course.

The willful refusal to see Tibetans as people who want to live a different way and have every right to do so – not as insurgents, criminals or separatists – is ultimately self-defeating. If Beijing wants to stop Tibetan ‘innocents’ from immolating, it must reverse course and loosen up – not batten down. Self-directed violence can dissipate if there is hope. Something Beijing is long overdue to deliver to Tibetans.

See more on the self-immolations, the resulting crackdown and the ensuing debate via CDT.

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A bid by Beijing to expand a new surveillance and security system across Tibet significantly increases the monitoring particularly of ex-prisoners and exile returnees and raises tensions in a region already gripped by resentment against Chinese rule, a human rights organization said Thursday.

Official documents described the new system, created as a “grid” of community-based information-gathering units, as designed to improve public access to basic services.

But New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the system is part of an effort to expand even further a longstanding practice of carrying out security policies more restrictively in Tibet than in most of the rest of China.

Expansion of the grid system “means that surveillance is now a pervasive part of life across the region,” HRW said.

A Human Rights Watch report details the “grid,” and explains the organization’s concerns with the system:

Official documents describe the new system, known as “grid” (Tib.: drwa ba, Ch.: wangge) management, as designed to improve public access to basic services. But the system also significantly increases surveillance and monitoring, particularly of “special groups” in the region – former prisoners and those who have returned from the exile community in India, among others. Expansion of the grid system, alongside the construction across Tibet of over 600 “convenience police-posts” with high-tech equipment to monitor daily life, and increasingly active volunteer security groups known as “Red Armband Patrols” (Tib.: dpung rtag dmar po) in 2012, means that surveillance is now a pervasive part of life across the region.

“Chinese authorities should dismantle this Orwellian ‘grid’ system, which has been imposed while the government continues to avoid addressing popular grievances,” said Sophie Richardson, China director. “Its purpose appears to be surveillance and control, and it encroaches on Tibetans’ rights to freedom of expression, belief, and association.”

[...]The new grid system grows out of the nationwide “social stability maintenance” (Ch.: weiwen) policy drive, and establishes a new sub-local layer to the administrative system in urban and rural areas across China. According to one Chinese scholar, the grid system is designed to ensure that “information is proactively gathered about people, events, and things so as to build up a database of urban components and events … through which relevant departments and work units can proactively uncover problems in a timely manner.”

Also see prior CDT coverage of protest in Tibet, self-immolation and surveillance.

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Read more about Hexie Farm’s CDT series, including a Q&A with the anonymous cartoonist, and see all cartoons so far in the series.

[CDT owns the copyright for all cartoons in the Hexie Farm CDT series. Please do not reproduce without receiving prior permission from CDT.]

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Exile groups said police seized and cremated Kunchok Wangmo’s body and handed her husband Dolma Kyab the ashes. They detained him only after he refused to blame the self-immolation on domestic problems.

Alistair Currie, spokesman for the Free Tibet campaign, said it was seeking further information but remained sceptical about police claims.

“We have no reason to trust Chinese authorities and experience shows they are actively seeking to denigrate those who conduct these protests … This would fit in with that,” he said.

Police in central China are denying that Kunchok Wangmo set herself on fire to protest Chinese rule in Tibet. From The Voice of America:

Tuesday’s Communist Party-controlled Global Times quotes a police official in Aba as saying the husband, Dolma Kyab, strangled his wife, following a fight about his alcohol addiction.

The official says the man burned her gasoline-drenched body a day later, adding he was “certain the case was not a protest against Chinese policy,” as earlier reported by several international news outlets and Tibetan exile groups.

Both the Britain-based Free Tibet and the U.S.-based International Campaign for Tibet quoted local sources as saying Kunchoek Wangmo set herself on fire on March 13, in the latest in an intensifying wave of politically motivated self-immolation protests.

Both organizations said the husband had been arrested, as the Global Times confirmed. But they said he was only arrested after refusing to blame his wife’s self-immolation on family problems.

Amid continuing tensions between the Chinese government and ethnic Tibetans, Radio Free Asia reports Chinese police have removed a prayer written on a cliff calling for the long life of the Dalai Lama:

The prayer, which covered a large area of the rock face and was placed above carved and painted mantras, was inscribed on March 10 by residents of Khangmar village in the Dzatoe township of Yulshul prefecture’s Tridu (in Chinese, Chenduo) county, Lobsang Sangye, a Tibetan living in India, told RFA’s Tibetan Service on Monday.

The prayer was put up to commemorate the 54th anniversary of Tibetan Uprising Day, a failed 1959 national rebellion against Chinese rule, Sangye said, citing information received from sources in the region, which has been marked by frequent anti-China protests.

“On learning about this, Chinese officials labeled the act a ‘political incident’ and sent security forces to erase the prayer,” Sangye said.

Details concerning when the Chinese action was taken, or on the possible detention of Tibetans held responsible for writing the prayer, were not immediately available.

© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Dalai Lama, self-immolations, Tibet, Tibet protests
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The monk set himself on fire Saturday inside his room in Kirti monastery in Sichuan province’s mountainous Aba county, RFA said. Carrying a Tibetan Buddhist prayer flag, he ran toward the monastery entrance before collapsing and was rushed to hospital where he died, the report said.

A man who answered the phone at Kirti said the monastery was open to the public, but hung up when questioned about the self-immolation report. Calls to local government and police offices rang unanswered.

The London-based advocacy group Free Tibet also reported Lobsang Thokmey’s self-immolation. It said a large force of security personnel at the county hospital had removed his body.

Confirming claims long circulating among Tibetan activists, the official Global Times newspaper last week said that family members of those who self-immolate were barred from retrieving their relatives’ bodies, while neighbors were not allowed to offer condolences and monks were barred from offering prayers for the dead.

Phayul provides more details on the monk’s self-immolation:

According to the Dharamshala based Kirti Monastery, Lobsang Thokmey doused his body with kerosene in front of his monastic quarters in the west of the Kirti Monastery and started running towards the east.

“Lobsang Thokmey was in flames as he began running with the Buddhist flag in his hands,” the Kirti Monastery said in a release. “Before he could reach the main gate, he fell on the ground.”

“A large number of Chinese security personnel arrived at the hospital soon after Lobsang Thokmey was admitted and later forcibly took away the deceased’s body to the regional headquarters of Barkham,” the same source said.

It is not yet known what slogans Lobsang Thokmey raised during his self-immolation protest.

Lobsang Thokmey is the 108^th Tibetan to set himself ablaze since the beginning of the protests that began in February 2009. In the 109th case, a Tibetan woman has also self-immolated in Sichuan province’s Ngaba prefecture. These incidents come amid the continuing crackdown in Tibet. From Radio Free Asia:

Kunchok Wangmo, 31, set herself ablaze in Dzoege (Ruo’ergai) county just before midnight last Wednesday but news of the burning was hushed up by Chinese police who had grabbed her body, cremated it and handed over the remains to her family, the sources said.

Her husband, Dolma Kyab, was detained when he refused to comply with an order by the Chinese authorities who wanted to blame the self-immolation on a family squabble, one exiled Tibetan with contacts in the region told RFA’s Tibetan Service.

Kunchok Wangmo is the 15th woman to self-immolate since the burnings began in February 2009 aimed at challenging Chinese rule in Tibetan areas and calling for the return of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India.

The main road in Ngaba was declared last year as “Heroes Street” after it became the epicenter of the burnings.

See also Flames of Protest: The History of Self-Immolation, via CDT.

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Post tags: aba county, Kirti monastery, self-immolations, Sichuan, Tibet, Tibetan protests
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Central Gannan [Tibetan Autonomous] Prefectural Committee Propaganda Department: County and municipal committee propaganda departments: At 9:30 tonight, the international Chinese channel CCTV4 program Focus Today will air the segment “Outside Tibetan Separatist Cliques and the Southern Gansu Self-Immolations.” County television stations, please announce this program continuously on your news ticker; diligently organize cadres and the masses to watch the show. (February 4, 2013)

中共甘南州委宣传部：各县市委宣传部：今晚9:30分，在中央4台中文国际频道《今日关注》栏目播出《甘南系列自焚案真相调查专题片》，请州县电视台以字幕形式连续滚动发出通知，认真组织干部群众收看。

These instructions, issued to the media and/or Internet companies by various central (and sometimes local) government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation.

Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source.

© Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: censorship, Censorship Vault, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, Gansu, media censorship, Ministry of Truth, propaganda, self-immolations, television, Tibet
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